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While this is good news, I will say Eric Skwarczynski is guilty of some "abuse" as well along with Irmlers from what I've been told from a former staff member there. They are more of a mental abuse of micro-managing. This is un-related of course but while this is good news, I'm not a fan of this Eric guy after what I've heard of him from various that worked alongside him.

Other than that, Dave Hyles should get more than a lawsuit. He deserves jail time but this is a start.

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Active member

Excerpt from the lawsuit: "1891.18 U.S.C. § 3283provides: “No statute of limitations that would otherwise preclude prosecution for an offense involving the sexual or physical abuse. . . of a child under the age of 18 years shall preclude such prosecution during the life of thechild. . . "

Active member

Excerpt from the lawsuit: "
88. Plaintiff approached Wilkerson on March 7, 2014, and continued to
request the Enterprise turn over the relevant documents and evidence of the sexual
assault, sexual abuse, and rape conducted by its employees/officers; perform a
meaningful investigation into the sexual abuse complained of by Plaintiff; and provide
the information to law enforcement in order to hold the responsible individuals
accountable.
89. On March 8, 2014, Wilkerson provided Plaintiff an ambiguous,
equivocated response “thanking” her for bringing to his attention the abuse she suffered
but refusing to acknowledge Plaintiff’s request to conduct a meaningful investigation."

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Dave Hyles is now in Columbia, Tennessee where he is a member of Family Baptist Church and conducts a "ministry" sponsored by that church for the restoration of fallen preachers, called Fallen in Grace. I suppose he has plenty of first-hand information on that issue, from his own experiences and hijinks.

If a jury in Indiana finds Dave personally guilty of a tort offense against Joy Ryder, then it doesn't matter that he is no longer a member of FBC-Hammond - the long arm of the law can reach him wherever he is.

I am not a lawyer so I am not competent to comment on the liability of a church for something that happened 40 years ago and perhaps none of the old leadership is still there now. Years ago, a man who was molested by a Lutheran pastor in Duluth, Minnesota sued and won the case, and the court awarded him the church building as damages. The pastor who molested him was long gone, to the Bahamas, and the plaintiff graciously declined to take the church building away from them, since the people in the congregation were not to blame for what happened to him.

The Preacher Boys web site lists Atty. David Gibbs, Jr. of Christian Law Association (not to be confused with David Gibbs III who has repudiated the CLA "ministry)" as a defendant contact. Does that mean that Gibbs is defending Hyles/FBC/HAC in this case, and if so, who pays the bills for that? Does that money come out of the missions budget of churches like the IFB church I recently left, that was supporting CLA?

An organization must be able to show how they tried to prevent the abuse of children through their written policies (and following through on their policies). I saw a lawsuit dropped by lawyers (who thought they could get some quick, easy money) because the accused church had policies in place such as no one is allowed to be alone with children and youth (both a male and female must be present), windows in all the doors in the church, clearances, not allowing people to work with children for six months upon coming to the church (pedophiles won't wait that long) and education of the various policies. The change of leadership, has nothing to do with it. If my understanding is correct (he was an employee) and there is evidence to prove the charges, this church will be paying a large sum of money.

and if you want to reach out to Dave to talk about current or past events or if you want to start a dialogue with the pastor who thinks it's a good idea to associate his ministry with Dave, you can find that info here:

Dave Hyles is now in Columbia, Tennessee where he is a member of Family Baptist Church and conducts a "ministry" sponsored by that church for the restoration of fallen preachers, called Fallen in Grace. I suppose he has plenty of first-hand information on that issue, from his own experiences and hijinks.

If a jury in Indiana finds Dave personally guilty of a tort offense against Joy Ryder, then it doesn't matter that he is no longer a member of FBC-Hammond - the long arm of the law can reach him wherever he is.

I am not a lawyer so I am not competent to comment on the liability of a church for something that happened 40 years ago and perhaps none of the old leadership is still there now. Years ago, a man who was molested by a Lutheran pastor in Duluth, Minnesota sued and won the case, and the court awarded him the church building as damages. The pastor who molested him was long gone, to the Bahamas, and the plaintiff graciously declined to take the church building away from them, since the people in the congregation were not to blame for what happened to him.

The Preacher Boys web site lists Atty. David Gibbs, Jr. of Christian Law Association (not to be confused with David Gibbs III who has repudiated the CLA "ministry)" as a defendant contact. Does that mean that Gibbs is defending Hyles/FBC/HAC in this case, and if so, who pays the bills for that? Does that money come out of the missions budget of churches like the IFB church I recently left, that was supporting CLA?

Member

So if FBC Hammond did have those policies in place during the 80s would that drop the lawsuit? Would laws that were enacted in the 2000s still apply or be grandfathered in as required policies during the 70s/80s? Just curious.

Member

So if FBC Hammond did have those policies in place during the 80s would that drop the lawsuit? Would laws that were enacted in the 2000s still apply or be grandfathered in as required policies during the 70s/80s? Just curious.

It is not law to have these policies but if a church does not have them they will not be able to show they did everything possible to prevent the abuse. Of course, in the 70s and 80s no one had policies to prevent abuse so the FBC would more than likely be liable. The Boy Scouts are going through this right now going back to the 1940s. I'm sure that they have insurance for this because now (I used to have a million dollars worth before I retired - it's relatively cheap)because it is such explosive issue right now. However, (ala the Boy Scouts) the current insurance does not cover what happened before the insurance was purchased - thus the Boy Scouts are now in bankruptcy. I hope I'm wrong on this because they seem to have a God-centered rather than man-centered ministry. I wish I could be more positive in my response. If the abuse is proved Dave Hyles probably doesn't have a lot of money to give but a big church, with big pockets, will take the brunt of it.

Yes...Eddie Lapina is still on staff. Joy's high school principal, Larry Staab, is still there. Two high school teachers from the 70's, Gail (McKinney) Merhalski and Sharon (Blythe) Lewis are still in the church and may still teach at HB. Jamie (Junkens) Lapina was a classmate with Joy and is still at FBC and teaches at HAC...I'm sure that she was very aware in the 70's of Dave's shenanigans. There are many more that could be listed.

The only reason I know what I've posted is because as a pastor (I'm retired now) I had to take training on this every few years. Your question is beyond my knowledge. I hate even thinking about this. and I hope this girl (now a women) gets an apology and leaves the church out of this.

Member

What if everyone at FBC-Hammond just left? Now, that's the best idea I have heard in a long time. My uneducated guess is, if that happened, the courts might hold up the distribution of assets from the sale of the church buildings and property, until all pending lawsuits were settled.

It is too bad that over all these years, the church apparently never reached out to Joy Ryder to apologize and try to make amends and come to an amicable agreement with her. That would have been possible after Jack Hyles died, but it may be too late now. Here again, I am just guessing, but the church's legal counsel would probably advise against any apologies or mea culpas or admissions of guilt at this time, now that a lawsuit has been filed. (To apologize would still be definitely the right thing to do, Matthew 5:23-26, but what would the counsel for the defense advise?) It sure would be nice if we could hear some expert opinion from a knowledgeable lawyer, such as Voyle Glover, author of the 1990 book "Fundamental Seduction: The Jack Hyles Case."